CNN: Mitt Romney’s overall favorable ratings have dropped, while Rick Santorum’s standing has jumped among Republicans, according to a new national survey.

…. In the new survey, 54% of Republicans said they hold a favorable opinion of Romney, while 67% said the same in January. Among all Americans, 34% described the candidate as likable, down from 41% last month.

…. only one presidential candidate in the race has a national favorable rating above the 50% mark: President Barack Obama.

Among all Americans, Obama received positive reviews from 53%, with the poll suggesting he may have grown more popular in recent months.

Bob Cesca: Regular people are donating to the president’s re-election campaign in record numbers:

According to an analysis by The Huffington Post, the Obama reelection campaign committee, Obama for America, pulled in at least 45 percent of its contributions from donors giving less than $200 during each of the fundraising quarters it was active in 2011…..

This is another strong indicator that the anti-Obama smearfest on the left is out of touch with the rest of the American left…..

Wednesday: PBO will travel to Master Lock in Milwaukee, Wisconsin to continue to discuss his blueprint for an economy built to last based on American manufacturing and the importance of companies insourcing and investing in America. He will then travel to Los Angeles, California where he will attend campaign events. He will spend the night in Los Angeles.

Thursday: PBO will attend campaign events in Corona del Mar, California before traveling to San Francisco, California to attend campaign events. He will spend the night in San Francisco.

Friday: PBO will travel to the Seattle where he will continue to discuss his blueprint for an economy built to last. He will also attend campaign events in the Seattle area before returning to Washington, D.C. later in the evening.

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From left, Chief of Staff Jack Lew, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, National Economic Council Director Gene Sperling and U.S. Ambassador to China Gary Locke confer as President Barack Obama holds a bilateral meeting with Vice President Xi Jinping of the People’s Republic of China in the Oval Office, Feb. 14, 2012. Kurt Campbell, Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs; Mike Froman, Deputy National Security Advisor for International Economics; and Lael Brainard, Under Secretary of the Treasury for International Affairs, are also pictured. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

ABC: For Jenna Lyons, Michelle Obama has been the best endorsement J. Crew has ever received …. (her) penchant for J. Crew clothing has been “the most incredible gift that keeps on giving.” Not only did the company see a “huge lift” in business, Lyons credited Obama, 48, with creating a special bond with customers.

…. When Obama appeared on “The Tonight Show” in 2008 and told Jay Leno that her yellow sweater, skirt and blouse were a “J.Crew ensemble,” the company’s stock went up 8.2 percent. In 2011, Business Insider credited her with contributing to one of the most successful re-branding campaigns ever…

The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act was the first act President Obama signed, fulfilling a campaign pledge.

The Act amended the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

It gave legal support to Lilly Ledbetter’s 1998 equal-pay lawsuit – a lawsuit that the Supreme Court ruled against in 2007, by a 5-4 majority.

Lilly Ledbetter’s case had been largely ignored until then, but the decision made it “a rallying issue for the left … in their attempt to persuade the public that the Supreme Court was moving too far to the right”. (See more here)

The bill was re-introduced in Congress in January 2009. It passed in the House of Representatives with 247 votes in support and 171 against. The vote was nearly perfectly split along party lines…. The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act passed the Senate, 61-36, on January 22, 2009.

President Obama had long championed this bill and Lilly Ledbetter’s cause and by signing it into law ensured that women like Lilly Ledbetter and other victims of pay discrimination could effectively challenge unequal pay.

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By the way, here’s how professional left darling Cenk “Obama is a moron” Uygur (the pure ‘progressive’ who’s only 41, but ….. is a ‘former’ Republican whose hero was Reagan, who voted for George HW Bush and Bob Dole, who opposed affirmative action, was anti-choice on the abortion issue, supported Clarence Thomas, had a serious problem with feminism, attended Federalist Society meetings (an organization of conservatives and libertarians co-founded by the charming Robert Bork) and, to this day, is an Armenian Genocide denier – and opposed PBO from almost his first day in office and called on Democrats to vote against him in this year’s Iowa primary …. PBO got 98.5% of the vote, so that worked well) described The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act:

“Eventually the Democrats had a 60 seat majority in the Senate, they were unstoppable. And what did we get? Lilly Ledbetter. If you don’t know, that’s a minor bill that passed in the beginning of the administration … it’s a good bill, that’s why I bring it up … about women being entitled to equal pay. God bless. Incredibly easy victory.”

Read Hoos Left on this fraud, fantastic: “A failed corporate lawyer and neocon with an enhanced opinion of himself and an ego as fat as his broad ass.”

PS Uygur is so progressive, he followed Jane Hamsher and Glenn Greenwald’s lead by setting up a PAC pleading for donations for causes he, um, passionately believes in. And as Hamsher and Greenwald could tell you, these PACs can be very profitable 😉

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First Lady Michelle Obama shows NFL PLAY 60 Super Kid James Gale, 11, historical photos from previous administrations on display in the Booksellers Area during a National Football League (NFL) taping in the East Wing of the White House, Jan. 30, 2012. At right is James’ mother Lisa Gale. The taping will air during the Super Bowl, Feb. 5, 2012. (Official White House Photo by Lawrence Jackson)

President Barack Obama talks with Chief of Staff Bill Daley and Jack Lew, Director of the Office of Management and Budget, before making a statement to the press in the State Dining Room of the White House, Jan. 9, 2012. The President announced Daley’s resignation and that Lew will serve as his next chief of staff. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

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Mark Kelly leans on the shoulder of his wife, U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, at a memorial vigil remembering the victims and survivors of the shooting that wounded Giffords, 12 others and killed six one year ago Sunday, Jan. 8, 2012, in Tucson, Ariz. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)

NYT: The sun had fallen and a crowd had gathered on a chilly Sunday night on the mall at the University of Arizona, for the last event of a weekend commemorating the first anniversary of the mass shooting here one year ago. The vigil began with the Pledge of the Allegiance.

Reuters: Welcome to an unlikely beacon of hope for the global auto industry – Detroit.

Executives arriving this week for the Detroit auto show find a U.S. car market that has morphed from meltdown three years ago to a safe haven as concerns grow about the stability of other big economies, from Europe to China.

Analysts and executives expect 2012 U.S. auto sales to grow 4 percent to 9 percent, the third consecutive annual gain….

12:30: First Lady Michelle Obama will deliver remarks at a DNC luncheon in Richmond.

2:45: Mrs Obama will announce a major commitment by the country’s top medical colleges and universities to create a new generation of doctors, medical schools, and research facilities to ensure that veterans, service men and women receive the medical care that they deserve.

Morning: Mrs Obama will join the cast of Nickelodeon’s iCarly at a special screening of “iMeet The First Lady,” a new episode featuring the First Lady that honors America’s military children.

At the final event of the tour, Miranda Cosgrove and the iCarly cast will be joined by Mrs. Obama at Hayfield Secondary School, a school with a large number of military children. They will screen the episode, participate in iCarly’s “Random Dancing” and answer questions from the students.

Mrs. Obama will also appear in a Joining Forces PSA produced by Nickelodeon that will debut immediately following the airing of “iMeet the First Lady” on the 16th.”

Charles Pierce (Esquire): MANCHESTER, N.H. – Just got back to town in time to feel the entire race pivot underneath my feet. Of course, this is just a naked ploy by the Gingrich campaign to sew up the critical Unemployable Dude With A Snowmobile vote, which is not a constituency lightly overlooked in this state, although in South Carolina, political observers say, it is replaced by the Unemployable Dude With A Mullet And A Truck vote ….

😆

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CBS: The nominating process may officially be underway, but Republicans have yet to enthusiastically embrace a potential nominee for president – and despite the late date, most would like to see other candidates enter the race, according to a new CBS News poll.

The survey finds that 58 percent of Republican primary voters want more presidential choices, while just 37 percent say they are satisfied with the current field. The percentage of Republican primary voters that wants more choices has increased 12 percentage points since October.

Charles P. Pierce (Esquire): And, suddenly, the dogwhistles have turned into air-raid sirens .. I think, maybe, it’s time for the nation to rise up and point out to the Republican party that, root and branch, it is a racist embarrassment to democracy and a blight on this nation that all the world can see…..

….there is a steady, noxious river of bile flowing through the entire Republican party, and through the conservative “movement” that empowers it …

… No, Rick, I don’t believe for a moment you meant to say something else and it came out “Blah people,” you Bible-banging coward. Nobody’s talking in code any more. It’s right out front there, for all the world to see. How dare these people? How dare their evil souls?

Steve Benen: …. As someone who was less than thrilled when Daley got the job, I’m not exactly sorry to hear the news. What’s more, I’ve liked Lew, and have no doubt he’ll be excellent in this role.

My larger concern is that Lew is a great OMB chief, and getting the Senate to confirm his replacement, whomever that may be, is going to be exceedingly unpleasant.

Regardless, I’m rather pleased with the news. The White House has been largely on the right track lately – payroll fight, mercury emissions, CFPB recess appointments, etc. – and Lew seems likely to help keep it that way.

President Barack Obama announces the change of his chief of staff at the State Dinning Room of the White House as his outgoing chief of staff William Daley and replacement Jacob Lew look on.

Sun Times: White House chief of staff Bill Daley, whose resignation was announced by President Obama on Monday, will be a co-chair of his 2012 re-election campaign, based in Chicago.

“He’s got a ton of political experience, knowledge and contacts and we look forward to leveraging those assets and working closely together to re-elect the President this year,” a member of the Obama team told the Chicago Sun-Times.

President Barack Obama talks with Jack Lew on the Colonnade of the White House, after he announced Lew’s nomination to replace Peter Orszag as director of the Office of Management and Budget, July 13, 2010. At left, Bo, the Obama family dog, waits for the President inside the doorway of the Outer Oval Office. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

President Barack Obama talks with Jack Lew on the Colonnade of the White House after he announced Lew’s nomination to replace Peter Orszag as director of the Office of Management and Budget, July 13, 2010. At left, Bo, the Obama family dog, waits for the President inside the doorway of the Outer Oval Office. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)